Shaman tactics
=General Tactics= Weapon Choice All Shaman can use staves, 1H axes, 1H maces, daggers, fist weapons, and shields but cannot dual-wield. With talents some Shaman can also use 2H axes and maces. In practice, many shaman carry a 1H weapon, 2H weapon and a shield and switch between the 2H weapon and the shield/1H weapon depending on the situation. * Against melee opponents use the 1H/Shield. As you will have less armour and/or DPS than your opponent, you will want to try kite them as much as possible while using your spells for damage. * Against casters, use the 2H weapon. Spells ignore armour when determining damage so the shield provides little value. Your goal is to kill them quickly using both weapon damage and spells. * When healing: the weapon's attributes should determine which configuration you choose as you will most likely not be engaged in combat as a healer. For example, if your staff has a +int buff on it, then you would select that weapon so as to increase your mana pool. Combat Whatever weapon choice you make, make sure you have a weapon buff on at all times. If you are soloing, always keep your Lightning Shield active, and be prepared to reactivate it in the middle of combat, possibly repeatedly. If you are in a group and are playing a support/healing role, you may want to be careful about activating Lightning Shield, since it will tend to make it harder to pull aggro from you. The standard pull technique for a shaman is Lightning Bolt, followed by a Flame Shock. Since Shocks are instant, this in effect damages the mob two times before it has time to react. Lightning Bolt is the most mana efficient damage spell, Flame Shock the most mana efficient shock. After this initial burst damage, single non-elite mobs should not require further spell casting. It is a good idea to keep lower-powered versions of Earth Shock and Frost Shock in reserve, to interrupt casters and to slow runners, should the necessity arise. For Shamans prior to level 30, it is a good idea to always have a Stoneskin Totem up. After that, Stoneskin is only useful if you're fighting many small mobs, against single targets Strength of Earth Totem is better later on. If you expect fights to take longer than 30 seconds, it is a good idea to place all four totems before the pull. Which totems to place is largely situational. For example, the Searing Totem will crank up your damage curve, but in close quarters it may attack mobs you were not quite ready to engage. Totems You need to undertake certain quests to gain your totems; however, you need not go out of your way to do these quests with all possible haste. The level at which you are available for these quests is far enough below the level when you gain the spells that require the totem that you have some leeway. You should do them at earliest opportunity, but find quests in the same area you are going so you can maximize that (often sizable) travel time these quests require. Using your totem spells to maximum advantage is more art than science. Since you can only use one of each element at a time, which one you select will depend on the situation you are in. Talents Selecting Shaman Talents efficiently is a bit more subtle than with some of the other classes. Some of this selection goes hand in hand with your weapon selection (mentioned above). For example, the Thundering Strikes talent lends itself to a fast weapon style while two-handed styles will almost definitely want the Two-Handed Axes and Maces talent. Another consideration is how (or if) you want to specialize in, say, healing instead of elemental combat. Good talent builders are available at the WoW Vault and ThottBot, each with comments on various strategies for talent use. Key Spells As with all classes, some of the shaman's spells are more useful than others. Some have uses that are not immediately obvious. * Earth Shock is extremely useful against casters or in PvP to disrupt casting. Shocks are a valuable part of the Shaman class, other useful shocks are Flame Shock for direct damage and Frost Shock for snaring targets. * Ghost Wolf has been called the best ability in the game by some and aids escaping significantly, particularly with the Improved Ghost Wolf talent or Nature's Swiftness (which makes it instant-cast). The PvP Honour system boots give an additional 15% points speed boost, and Ghost Wolf profits from the possible speed enchant on boots. * Astral Recall allows Shamans to teleport to their Hearth location every 15 minutes. It is on a seperate timer to the Hearth Stone allowing the Shaman to Hearth home without using up a precious 1hr cooldown. * Mana Spring Totem and Mana Tide Totem are two totems that will appeal to all grouped casting classes. Increasing the mana regeneration of a party is one of the most vital roles a Shaman will play and significantly reduces the down time of your group. * The Lesser Healing Wave spells can be cast up to twice as fast but are only slightly less mana efficient than the Healing Wave spell the shaman will know at the same time. However with the Improved Lesser Healing Wave talent you can cast Lesser Healing Wave while being hit allowing you to heal yourself through combat. Usually LHW should be used while in combat and HW outside. * Reincarnation is a unique ability - Shaman is the only class with a self-rez. Warlocks have a similar ability with their Soulstones, as with these, Shamans should be very careful about the spots where they die. Gear Gear largely depends on playstyle. Elemental Combat and Restoration specs will likely favour mana per second, int and spirit gear. Mana per second is more important to a Shaman then spirit because it continues to regenerates mana while casting. Unlike other casting classes Shamans have no talents that will allow a percentage of natural mana regen to continue while casting. Meanwhile, Enhancement specs will favour percent to crit, attack power, strength and agility, for hard hits, crits, and armour. Stamina gear is a great help for PvP and attempting to tank. Good stamina gear and high level Power Word: Fortitude can give a level 40 shaman over 4000 health, and high armour to keep that health up. Although it is fair to say a Shaman with a shield be able to acheive the same armour as a Warrior with no shield, very rarely will a Shaman be asked or expected to attempt to tank. Weapon speed, not just damage-per-second, may matter to a shaman, depending on the buffs you use (and on how some of WoW's internal math actually works). Some buffs, like Frostbrand Weapon and Windfury Weapon, work on a "per hit" basis, so will proc more often with faster weapons. For other buffs, like Flametongue Weapon, weapon speed may not matter. Note that this is largely a matter of playstyle, not necessarily efficiency. For example, while Windfury may not proc as often on a big two-hander, when it does proc, it will generate much more damage. The result will be a more "spikey" damage curve, while a smaller, faster weapon will be more flat. There is some debate about exactly weapon speed scales using Windfury Weapon vs. Rockbiter Weapon. The math suggests there isn't much difference. =PvE Tactics= Solo PvE Tactics When soloing, totems that affect your group will, naturally, not be as cost-effective. Often, you will want to reserve mana for Earth Shocks, so might not drop totems as often. You will almost always be more than a match for a single mob of equal, or even slightly higher, level. If you find yourself fighting more than one mob, a Stoneclaw Totem can provide the time you need to finish off one before the other destroys the totem. When fighting multiple opponents, it will be worth throwing in some extra damage spells. Nature's Swiftness comes in handy if you find yourself hurting while in these situations. Group PvE Tactics The Shaman can play many roles in a group, including melee, caster, and support. He is not as strong as a specialist at any of these, but he can quickly shift gears if needed. Some general notes: * Stoneskin Totem is always useful, though the usefulness diminishes at higher (especially elite) levels (27 damage reduction before armour reduction is not that useful on 400+ damage hits). * Strength of Earth Totem is helpful to all classes dealing melee DPS. * Which of the two is better is circumstancial - Stoneskin vs. many small mobs, SoE vs. few big mobs. * Disrupting enemy casters with Earth Shock helps deal with healers and ranged casters * Windfury Totem dramatically increases the DPS and rage buildup of your frontline fighters, Grace of Air Totem is better for Rogues. * Fire totems consume large amounts of mana, and should be used sparingly, especially if playing as the healer. * Quick casts of Cure Disease and Cure Poison can cancel enemy DoT attacks (You can also use Poison Cleansing Totem and Disease Cleansing Totem for large groups or repeated poisoning/diseasing.) * Frost Shock and Earthbind Totem can slow down enemy adds or prevent fleeing mobs from gathering reinforcements * Both Rockbiter Weapon and Earth Shock generate more aggro than is normal for their damage, so can be useful if your role in the group is to pull mobs off of casters. Lightning Shield can also be helpful in keeping aggro on you once you have it. Conversely, if someone else is trying to pull mobs off of you, these spells may hinder that effort. Sadly, Healing Stream Totem and Mana Spring Totem Level 1 are really not all that useful. The amount of health or mana provided by these totems is so much lower than what is being spent that you're almost always better off saving the mana to get the combat over quicker. However, Mana Spring Totem Levels 2 and above produce more mana then are spent on them. This makes them slightly more efiicient to use. This is good when in a caster heavy party (Mage, Priest, Druid, Shaman) in battle, and also afterwards in order to reduce downtime for mana regeneration. Raid PvE Tactics In end game raids such as Molten Core, your role is highly limited compared to solo, small-group or PvP play. In most situations, your limited melee damage (compared to a Rogue for example) and prevalance of strong area of effect spells prevents you from fighting melee very effectively. Lower and less efficient ranged dps prevents much offensive casting, though this is more viable that melee. This leaves you with dropping totems and healing. *You best serve the raid placed in homogenized groups (only rogues and warriors or only priests, druids and/or mages, etc.). *If you are in a group with much melee, you should place Strength of Earth Totem and Windfury Totem, Grace of Air Totem or possibly Tranquil Air Totem if you are not in a main tank group. Healing Stream Totem can sometimes be useful. *If you are in a group with hunters, Grace of Air Totem should be used along with Mana Spring Totem. *If you are in a group with casters, Mana Spring Totem and Tranquil Air Totem are best, along with Mana Tide Totem if you have it. *In a fear fight, such as with Magmadar or Onyxia, place Tremor Totem in the middle of where your group will be situated. *In a fight where you will take a lot of elemental damage, such as with Ragnaros, place the appropriate resistance totem (Fire Resistance Totem, Nature Resistance Totem, or Frost Resistance Totem). Though you will not be as good at healing as a priest or even druid, you can still fulfill this role quite effectively. *Generally, Lesser Healing Wave is the best option for healing, especially when healing cloth or leather wearers. *If your target for healing is taking consistent damage or several people are, Healing Wave is often more useful because of higher mana efficiency. *If you are healing a clustered group of melee that all have taken moderate damage, Chain Heal is very useful. While healing, it is usually best to stay as far away from your healing target as possible while still being in healing rage in case they have to move a little bit. Most of the time, main tank healing will be reserved for priests and druids. When healing the main tank, use either Lesser Healing Wave or Healing Wave depending on how much damage he or she has taken, and how much damage you expect he or she will take. When spot-healing, lesser healing wave is generally best. Raiding Gear Since you will be healing most of the time in raids, you want to look for the same stats that a priest would generally look for: *Mana regenerated every 5 seconds *Addition to healing power *Spell Crit Chance *Intellect *Spirit *Stamina The sets The Earthfury from Molten Core and The Ten Storms from Blackwing Lair are excellent examples of gear to aim for. Raiding Talents Most of the Restoration tree is very useful for raiding as a shaman. The most important talents include: *Tidal Mastery and Nature's Swiftness *Purification *Mana Tide Totem *To a lesser degree, Improved Lesser Healing Wave, Totemic Focus and Ancestral Healing are useful raiding talents. =PvP Tactics= Solo PvP Tactics One good trick involves some quick mouse work. When trying to escape an opponent, autorun away from them. Then, jump, quickly rotate around in the air, Frost Shock, and rotate back before you land. This allows you to snare your opponent with no loss in forward momentum. Group PvP Tactics (personal opinion) Here's what I think a Shaman's role in group PvP is: 1. Kill enemies 2. Heal/save allies if you can, but don't disregard rule #1. It's generally pretty simple to snare a Rogue that's chasing after a caster, or to Earth Shock a Mage while he is casting a spell at an ally. Shamans are great against casters (Mages, Warlocks, Priests, non-feral Druids) and we should chop them up as quickly as possible Earth Shocks is a killer here, but in group PvP, you can't spam it, due to it's high mana cost. 2 hand weapons are better to use here, as armor doesn't reduce damage taken by spells and their small armor will take the most damage possible from your big damage crits. Rogues, feral Druids, and Hunters are more difficult. For Rogues, Flame Shock is a much better choice than Earth Shock or Frost Shock (Unless he's running away). Your goal with Rogues is to keep them out of stealth and keep them in melee range. If he does manage to stealth, you can use Magma Totem with the hope that when he comes near, it will get him out of stealth. Feral Druids can be tricky, but are really not very difficult. Essentially, use a snare if he's in travel form, same stuff you'd use for Rogues if he's in cat form, and the same stuff for Warriors if he's in bear form. Hunters are very difficult. If possible, try to get into melee range before they notice you. If you can't do that, snare them and just focus on getting to melee range. It's relatively easy to get kited, and it's difficult to heal with a pet attacking you. For the most part, against these opponents, a 1h weapon and a shield is the best, to negate their mostly physical damage. This is just a guideline, and a Shaman can beat all of these opponents with a 2h. Against Paladins or Warriors, your strategy will be a little different. Versus Warrios, it's best to leverage your spellcasting abilities, as melee damage won't hit too hard against them. Try to snare them and get out of melee range, but watch out for intercept stun. Try to expect an intercept if you find a Warrior out of immediate melee range, or is running away. Versus Paladins, it's important to conserve your mana. Use your mana efficient spells more. When he bubbles (and they always do) step back and heal yourself a bit. If you're already at high health or don't think you need a heal, step back a bit further and begin casting a Lightning spell at him, timed so that it hits just as he comes out of the bubble. This takes practice, but it's suprising to the Paladin and can turn the tide in your favor. General group pvp rule; use 1H and shield. This will increase your survivability, and will make sure you're low on the targets list. There are more physical damage classes out there than casters, and you'll hurt when taking on 2 or more people if you have a 2 hand weapon. This guide was written primarily for a elemental/enhancement build, but the same principles apply for restoration Shamans. You'll just probably be doing more healing, less killing. Yes, with the caveat that frost shock can be extremely effective psychologically against your opponent. An opponent running at 50% movment speed and being run around is going to have only one thing on their mind: Get to you, and kill you. An average opponent at this point will not be fighting nearly as well as usual, and will make mistake after mistake. Equally, using a slow weapon against a rogue, keeping them frost shocked and only getting near enough to them to swing as your weapon becomes ready will drastically reduce their dps. The only catch to this is dagger rogues, who have numerous abilities to stop you in your tracks. It is best to entirely kite them using repeated frost shocks until they are at least half health. Also, depending what rank of which shock you have most recently recieved makes a huge difference in damage. My frost shock will, in a few levels, surpass my flame shock by approximately 40 damage I believe, and chain casting flame shock takes away around 1/4 of the total damage. (50% damage instantly, 50% over 12 seconds, recast after 6 seconds is 50% of the dot, thus 25% of the overall damage). Finally, frost shock is the only shock to use against a hunter. Given the chance to either wing clip you and run, they will do so immediately, and a shaman does rather poorly against a hunters ranged dps. Raid PvP Tactics Battlegrounds In each battleground, Shaman can do alot. If your group stays close to each other, totems will be an advantage. You can choose to spend your time beating face with whatever weapon you have, or you can take on a support role. Keep your mana pool in mind -- with all of the totem dropping + shocking + healing that you can do, odds are you're out of mana before you're out of health unless multiple people are beating on you... if you're out of mana, dying in Battlegrounds will bring you back with nearly full mana in under 30 seconds. Overall, a Shaman can be really helpful everywhere you want to be. About Shocks in Battleground PvP Flame Shock - any class with stealth abilities Frost Shock - any situation where you need to slow someone Earth Shock - interruption of casters You can use the very inexpensive Rank 1 effect of these spells to achieve the same secondary effects (damage over time to break stealth, slow, and spell interruption) if you're concerned about mana availability. The rank of the shock will not affect their ability to resist. Build a custom toolbar or hotkey that places these lower rank spells within easy reach so that you're not fumbling around to find them. In a lot of cases you don't need to do direct damage to be effective in PvP. Keeping this in mind makes you a fantastic addition to your team in PvP. Warsong Gulch A Shaman makes an adequate flag runner, but Druids are better. Remember that Ghost Wolf is dispellable -- it can be removed from you, then you're left carrying the flag without being fast. You can't shapeshift out of restraint effects like a Druid can, so you are easily rooted or slowed. You can support your team's runner by dropping Earthbind Totems and healing. You don't have to worry about aggro from PvE mobs, so dropping your searing totem can be extra DPS. Magma Totem will break rogue or druid stealth usually before they can get to you. Tremor Totem can interrupt fear effects, and using purge on priests or other cloth mobs will remove their self buffs -- dropping someone by 54-70 stamina points has a noticeable, immediate impact on their survivability. Arathi Basin Always drop Tremor Totem when defending a node - it does not help against rogue stuns but it will help with fear and charm effects from priests and warlocks. Arathi Basin means small groups of people fighting in one place - your totems can make a serious difference. Make sure that if you are defending a node that everyone at that node is in the same group with you, because buff totems only affect people in your 5 man group, not the entire raid. From the Lumbermill, the forgotten Far Sight spell can be used to great effect. If you have 2-3 people defending you at that node, you can spy down to the Stables, Blacksmith, and Farm for any incoming groups or to check on the progress of your attack. Sentry Totem can also be used to great effect. Alterac Valley AV can be difficult for Shaman, because it's often a ranged zerg-fest. An elemental shaman can hang back and drop Chain Lightning and Lightning Bolt into big fights, and tab-selecting opponents to cast Purge can also be effective. This can be especially effective against anyone relying on priest or mage buffs for that extra edge (Power Word: Fortitude or arcane intellect). Shaman do have one trick up their sleeve specific to AV - the notorious archers in each tower have huge range and decent dps - they need to be killed to make progress into the Alliance camp. Well, A shaman can kill them at their maximum range. Drop the totem to protect you partially against ranged attacks, add Stoneskin Totem, add Healing Stream Totem, use your shield, activate lightning shield and refresh it while healing yourself. Those archers have something like 4000 hp and will die after a while due to how Lightning Shield will proc against ranged attacks. Therefore, a shammy (and in theory troll Priests) can kill archers at a huge distance minutes before they'd otherwise be engaged. If you're hanging out of the fight to heal, casting Chain heal over and over into the fight is very mana efficient. With three targets, it's the most effective heal in the Shaman arsenal, and everyone in the big fight below will appreciate every little bit of healing you can add to the mix. For direct damage near-instant kills, a shaman with Nature's Swiftness can cast a normal Chain Lightning, follow with earth or frost shock, use NS, then follow with another Chain Lightning. Situationally, this can be of great use in AV because you're almost guaranteed three targets for each Chain lightning. =See Also= *Shaman: Working with Other Classes *Shaman: How to Kill A... *Shaman: How to Help A... Category:Shamans Category:Tactics